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Oil Briefly Hits
$60 a Barrel
On Technical Buys

Oil prices in New York hit $60 for the first time as the bullishness gripping the market deepened.

The buying mostly was technically triggered, although analysts said reports of several minor refinery problems also added to the momentum.

The refinery outages "may have provided some support for products, but the focus still seems to be on strong demand for products," said Tom Bentz, an analyst at brokerage BNP Paribas in New York.

August crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit an all-time high of $60 before finishing $1.33 higher at $59.42, a new record settlement.

Jamal Qureshi, an analyst at PFC Energy, said it will be a matter of time before oil heads higher, as rising global demand tests producers' and refiners' ability to make enough product.

"We're so close to it now that technicals alone could" lift prices above $60, he said. "There is a good chance we could hit it tomorrow."

The latest price spike comes amid a debate among analysts over the degree to which prices can rise before hurting the economy and blunting oil demand. Economists' predictions that $30, $40, and $50 oil would damage the economy and even cause a recession so far have been wrong. Economic growth has slowed, but not by as much as many had predicted, and oil demand has shown surprising resilience.

World oil demand increased 3.4% last year, the strongest growth rate in 28 years, and is up 2.3% so far this year, compared with a 10-year average growth rate of 1.6%, according to Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

Jim Burkhard, a CERA analyst, said demand likely will continue to expand rapidly as long as prices remain in the $50s, although he said consumption growth could suffer "if we made a definitive and sustained move above $60 and get close to $70."

Oil prices likely will remain higher than $50 for the next four quarters before beginning to soften in response to expanding global production capacity, Mr. Burkhard said.

In other commodity markets:

COFFEE: Futures on the New York Board of Trade fell to five-month lows as commodity funds took profits and amid light selling by coffee growers. July coffee fell 2.40 cents to $1.0840 a pound.

GOLD: Prices on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose, supported by commodity-fund buying and oil's strength. Weakness in the euro also attracted safe-haven buyers to gold. August gold futures gained $3.50 to $443.20 an ounce.